1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle control apparatus having an automatic transmission and adapted to stop the idling of an engine under a predetermined stop condition, and more particularly to a technology for controlling the operation of the automatic transmission when the idling of the engine is stopped.
2. Description of the Related Art
There have been known conventional automatic engine stop and start apparatuses, as with, for example, an automatic engine stop and start apparatus disclosed by JP-A-60-125738, which include an engine stop/start means for automatically stopping or starting an engine when a predetermined engine stop or start condition is met, a high-speed gear selecting means for selecting a high-speed gear of an automatic transmission when the engine is stopped, and a low-speed gear selecting means for selecting a low-speed gear of the automatic transmission after a predetermined length of time has passed since the engine is started.
In this automatic engine stop and start apparatus, the generation of excessive so-called creeping torque that would be accompanied by the start of the engine is restrained by the arrangement in which a high-speed gear is selected when the engine is started.
Incidentally, with the above prior art automatic engine stop and start apparatus in which a high-speed gear of the automatic transmission is set to be selected when the engine is started, for example, even in case the driver wants a quick start, there may be a risk of causing a delay in building up a driving force. Namely, when the driver starts the vehicle after he or she has released the brake there may be a case where a desired driving force cannot be generated at an appropriate timing due to a time lag required when the gears of the automatic transmission are changed from the high-speed gear to the low-speed gear.